November 20, 2009

Madison County Circuit Judge Daniel Stack has ordered telephone company AT&T to pay $21,671,857 for mistakes Illinois Bell made eight years ago in distributing $90 million in refunds to business customers. He ruled that Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation should receive all funds that remain after AT&T has issued credits to current customers.

November 8, 2009

Sunday, November 8, 2009 5:37 PM CDT

URBANA – Victims of domestic violence who would like to get help pursuing an emergency order of protection can receive personal assistance and information at the Champaign County Courthouse beginning Monday.

Law students from the Domestic Violence Clinic, a collaboration between Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance (a nonprofit legal service organization) and the University of Illinois College of Law, will be manning a help desk at the Champaign County Courthouse in Urbana four days a week.

November 5, 2009

On October 22, Illinois Legal Aid Online and the Illinois Coalition for Equal Justice in conjunction with Southern Illinois University School of Law Library, Sallie Logan Public Library and Carbondale Public Library announced the opening of an internet-based legal self-help center for residents of Jackson County. The new center will provide legal information directed to lower income unrepresented litigants in Jackson County.

November 4, 2009

By Debra Pressey / The News-Gazette

Thursday, October 22, 2009 10:53 AM CDT

URBANA – Carle Foundation Hospital has offered to purchase Carle Clinic and its subsidiary, Health Alliance Medical Plans, for $250 million, according to documents filed with the state this week.

And if the deal is approved, a significant barrier to medical care now faced by needy and uninsured patients in East Central Illinois could be removed: The clinic, currently a for-profit business, would join the hospital under its not-for-profit umbrella and begin offering patients the same charity-care assistance now offered by the hospital.

November 3, 2009

Recognition of the elderly’s rights plays big role

By STEVE HORRELL
Published: Friday, October 30, 2009 10:37 AM CDT

Edwardsville – Not all that long ago, entering a nursing home was akin to being put out to pasture. Not so anymore, says Brenda Acoff. The culture of nursing homes is changing, although it would be changing even more if parents took more time to educate their children about what it’s like to grow old.

“To be old wouldn’t be something to be shunned and something that’s ugly, it would be something beautiful,” said Acoff, who is the regional long-term care ombudsman for the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation. On Tuesday Acoff spoke at a fall training session that focused on elder abuse and child abuse.

CARBONDALE – While Illinois rates ninth in the nation in the number of foreclosed homes, a look at the numbers shows the state’s southern 19 counties are fairing better than their more populated counterparts in the Metro East and Chicagoland. But, while the foreclosures are concentrated with population – and the accompanying higher property prices – officials in Southern Illinois said this week foreclosures are increasing in the region. At Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation in Carbondale, attorney Sandy Gordon said her office is seeing an increase in the number of homeowners looking for assistance in avoiding foreclosure.